Coal-chute.



PATENTED OCT. 31, 1905.

C. W. HUNT.

GOAL UHUTE.

APPLIGATIOH FILED 1120.15, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

COAL-CHUTE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 31, 1905.

Application filed December 15,1904. Serial No. 236,914.

To a, whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES WALLACE HUNT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of West New Brighton, borough of Richmond, in the city of New York, in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Coal-Chutes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

This invention relates to chutes for coaling locomotives and other like purposes in which the delivery of the coal shall be controllable and may also be measured.

The object of the'invention is to provide an improved device of this general character which shall be easily operated, shall be capable of handling large pieces of coal as well as small pieces, shall not be liable to be injured or put out of operative condition by the jamming of pieces of coal, and shall render impossible the unintended running through of fine coal.

Other objects of the invention, as well as the features of construction wherein the invention consists, will be more fully explained hereinafter with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which the invention is illustrated as embodied in a convenient and practical structure.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a View in sectional elevation of the improved chute applied to a bin, representing also in a conventional manner a portion of a locomotive. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the chute.

In Fig. l of the drawings the chute is represented as applied to a bin a of ordinary construction, having a delivery-floor b, inclined toward the mouth or opening 0. Adjacent to the mouth or opening 0 and on opposite sides thereof may be secured side plates (Z of suitable dimensions, between which is mounted a revolving bucket e, which may be divided by partitions f into any desired num ber of compartments g. The revolving bucket or drum comprising the partitions f and the end members It is supported in suitable bearings in the supports (Z and may be provided with a handle or a gear or other means whereby the drum or bucket may be revolved. Each compartment is not open for its entire width from partition to partition, but is preferably closed in part by a flange k to form a bucket for the better retention of the coal, to

better cut off the flow of coal through the opening 0, and to prevent the escape'of coal from the compartment while it is being filled. It does not interfere with the free delivery of the coal from the compartment when the drum is rotated. A guard-plate Z, curved to conform to the curvature of the drum, is secured to the bin or to the side plates (Z below the opening 0 to cooperate with the flanges 7:; and to prevent the escape of coal between the wall of the bin and the drum during the movement of the drum and before each compartment.

thereof reaches the proper position to receive its charge of coal.

One or more strikers m are mounted above the drum, being preferably hinged or pivoted, as at n, upon a rod 0, which extends across the opening 0 near the top thereof. Obviously a single plate m might be made to extend from side plate to side plate; but preferably such plate is divided into several sections, as indicated in Fig. 2. As the drum 6 rotates the striker or strikers dislodge and hold back such pieces of coal as project beyond the circumference of the drum, so that they fall into the mouth of the bin and enter the next compartment of the drum to be presented. Should a lump of coal be firmly embedded in the bucket and yet project beyond the circumference of the drum, the movable guards or strikers will yield enough to permit the pas sage of such projecting lump. in this manner not only is the apparatus made capable of handling quite large pieces of coal, but the jamming of the advancing edge of the flange is by contact with the lump of coal which is held from being carried forward is prevented, as well as the bending and possible disabling of the drum.

The spout p by which the coal is directed from the rotating drum into the locomotivetender or other receptacle is hung upon the shaft z' of the drum 6, as shown at g in Fig. 2, so that the clearance between the spout and the drum will always be the same in any position of the spout, and counterbalance-weights r may be connected to the side arms of the spout beyond the axis of the drum to provide for the easy handling of the spout and its maintenance in an elevated position when not in use, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1.

It will be obvious that the drum may be provided with as many compartments or buckets as desired, according to the character of the material to be handled, and that various other changes in details of construction and ar rangement may be made as the necessities of each particular use may render desirable.

IIO

I claim as my inVention 1. The comb nation with a bin having a discharge-orifice, of a rotatable drum mounted in proximity to said orifice and comprising a plurality of compartments or buckets, and a spout hung upon the axis of said drum to receive the material discharged from the buckets, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a bin having a discharge-orifice, of a rotatable drum mounted in proximity to said discharge-orifice and comprising a plurality of compartments or buckets, a stationary guard-plate mounted beneath said orifice and curved to conform to the curvature of the drum and a spout hung upon the axis of the drum to receive the material discharged from the buckets, substantially as described.

3. The combination With a bin having a discharge-orifice, of a rotatable drum mounted in proximity to said orifice and comprising a plurality of compartments or buckets, a striker yieldingly mounted across said orifice above the drum, and a spout hung upon the axis of said drum opposite said orifice, substantially as described.

This specification signed and witnessed this 14th day of December, A. D. 1904:.

CHARLES WALLACE HUNT.

In presence of ANTHONY N. J ESBERA, W. R. GREELEY. 

